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Obama, Karzai Agreed to Speed Up Transition

US President Barack Obama and his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai said that American forces would hand the lead in the fight against the Taliban to Afghan forces in the next few months.

Jakie JaW Wade, WMAZ 10:31 a.m. EST January 11, 2013

US President Barack Obama (R) looks on as his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai gestures during a meeting in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, on January 11, 2013. The leaders, whose relationship is strained by a grueling war that has stretched America's military, held the meeting designed to thrash out the scope, and ultimately the size, of the US commitment to Afghanistan after 2014. (JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images)(Photo: WMAZ)

President Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai announced on Friday that they have agreed to slightly speed up plans for moving Afghan forces into the security lead, while American troops will shift into a support role.

The two leaders say the Afghan army is "exceeding initial expectations" and the Afghan forces will be put in the combat lead across Afghanistan months ahead of schedule this spring, rather than this summer as was initially planned.

"Starting this spring our troops will have a different mission-training, advising and assisting Afghan forces," Obama said at an afternoon news conference.

Obama said it was not certain what it would mean for the pace of U.S. troop withdrawals this year. He said that was "something that isn't yet fully determined." The president also cautioned that while U.S. troops will fall back into primarily a support, American forces will still likely see combat.

Afghans now lead about 80% of operations and by February are expected to have the lead in securing 90% of the Afghan population, according to a joint statement issued by Obama and Karzai.

The most important item on the two leaders' agenda were talks on whether the United States will have a residual presence in the country beyond 2014, when the U.S. and its allies are scheduled to end combat operations.

Some U.S. commanders have proposed fewer than 10,000 troops in Afghanistan after 2014, to keep battling terrorists and training Afghan forces.

Karzai declined to spell out the size of a contingency force he'd like to see left behind.

"Number are not going to make a difference to the situation in Afghanistan," Karzai said."It's the relationship that will make a difference in Afghanistan."

Some Obama aides want a much smaller U.S. presence. Senior administration officials even said earlier this week it's possible that no residual force will be left behind in Afghanistan.

"We wouldn't rule out any option," Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security adviser, told reporters earlier this week. "We're not guided by the goal of a certain number of U.S. troops in the country. We're guided by the objectives that the president set - disrupt, dismantle, defeat al-Qaeda."

Obama said on Friday he's yet to make a decision on the matter, but stressed that he will require that any potential residual U.S. forces left behind will have immunity from prosecution under Afghan law. There are currently 66,000 American troops in Afghanistan.

Karzai noted that Obama has agreed to transfer detention centers to the Afghan government and U.S. troops plan to withdraw from Afghan villages, making it easier for him to lobby for immunity. The immunity issue larded negotiations at the end of the Iraq war in 2011 and resulted in Obama leaving no Americans troops behind.

"With those issues resolved, as we did today, I can go to the Afghan people and argue for immunity for U.S. troops in Afghanistan in a way that Afghan sovereignty will not be compromised, in a way that Afghan law will not be compromised," Karzai said.

Karzai also met this week with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. Both Clinton and Panetta will soon leave their posts, Obama has nominated to two men--Sen. John Kerry for State and former senator Chuck Hagel--who analysts speculate would support a quicker pullout from Afghanistan.

Friday's meeting was the first face-to-face meeting since the two met at the NATO Summit in Chicago in May. The two last spoke by video conference on Sept. 21.

There have been tensions between the Obama and Karzai governments. Karzai has criticized the American military over civilian deaths in the war; Obama and aides have complained of corruption within Karzai's government.